Dante's Ride
by BetaSwimmer
Summary: Raven is attacked by a strange creature and sent into the dark corners of her own mental universe. Raven must escape her own mind before her friends become pitted against one another by her own dark powers.
1. The Void

Dante's Ride

Chapter 1: The Void

_Alright, it's been a long long while since I've worked on anything with fanfics. I decided to try to revamp this story a bit. I started it about a year and a half ago, and never really finished it. Rather than the previous half-page section each chapter I'm drawing relevant sections together to help keep the continuity together…hopefully._

It had been only several hours since the fight ended. It seemed more like an eternity. Each waking moment ticked as they sat in the silent room, the only sound audible was the incessant drone of the current in the lights above. A buzz, that seemed to pierce through the mind amplifying the pain of emptiness they each felt.

Even the cheerful and optimistic copper-skinned alien was buried in a wave of grief and uncertainty as she sat unusually silent. A wide eyed and terrified expression seemed carved into the face of a young green skinned boy, as he sat near his robotic friend occasionally fidgeting with his hand on the arms of his chair. The large cyborg rested with his arms pressing against his legs, staring into the gray marble-toned, plastic tile floor.

Boy wonder, the leader of the team wiped a thin line of sweat from his forehead as he stood glaring at a large screen. His thin black mask squinting every few moments as he shifted his head to stare at the table next to him, where Raven lay, motionless, unconscious, oblivious to her surrounding world, against the white sheets of her hospital like bed.

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Raven stirred slightly, her eyes pinched as light began to flood her face. She brought her arm to her face instinctively to lessen the light as she slowly squinted peering through the light.

She saw nothing.

She opened her eyes further removing her arm as she replaced it with the hood of her dark cloak. She began to look about her surroundings, again seeing nothing. She stumbled slightly though as a strange sensation overcame her body.

She was floating.

An endless world of light seemed to make her surroundings as she stared silently into the contrasting world. "Where am I?" Her dull monotonous voice croaked out finally as it echoed into the deep.

"You are here."

A strange voice, perfectly mimicking her own responded to her, in a rather mocking manner. Raven stared for a moment, only half startled at the voice before she again spoke, "Where is here?"

"Where you are."

Again mocking her. Raven frowned slightly in disgust of the answer. After a long moment of silence she took a deep breath making a long sigh before speaking again, "How do I get out of here?"

There was a long silence. The voice did not respond immediately.

"…You don't…"

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"What are you doing here this late?" Cyborg's voice rang through the silence of the night as his barbaric silhouette stood in the path of the doorway. The dim light from the hall streaked into the room gently giving form and shape to the smaller masked child, Robin.

"I should be asking you the same question." Came his typical reply as he turned to face towards the body lying on the bed. He paused before glancing back over his cape at his approaching friend, "Couldn't sleep."

Cyborg's large metallic hand rose gently clasping Robin's shoulder, "I know you're worried, we all are, but that won't bring her back." His voice whispered in a reassuring manner. He lifted his hand off of Robin's shoulder as Robin turned to face Raven once again, his voice also lifting, "Besides, Raven's a tough girl, she'll be fine." As he finished he lifted his hand out giving a thumbs up, Robin turned to Cyborg smirking slightly, returning the thumb.

Before anything else could be said a set of foot steps were hear at the doorway, Robin and Cyborg turned to the door, seeing a very baggy eyed Beastboy, wearing what appeared to be green monkey pajama's. In his hands were a glass of milk, (soy of course,) and a scruffy looking teddy bear. A moment of silence as the half conscious changeling stared back, his flushing face concealed by the lack of light as his eyes darted from his bear to his friends.

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"Why are you here?"

"Funny," began Raven's sarcastic reply as she continued to float in the seemingly infinite universe of light.

"What do you mean, 'Funny'?"

"I have no idea where I am, let alone why I am here."

"And this is 'funny'?"

Raven was reminded in a sense of Starfire at the voices lack of understanding, but proceeded to explain. She had nothing better to do, "I was being sarcastic." Explaining with a few words as possible.

"Sarcasm?"

Raven sighed loudly, muttering to herself, "Great, here I thought only Starfire and Beastboy could give me this much of a headache."

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The sweltering sun purged through the tower, gleaming light into each room, burning into the eyes of the titans. Even Starfire in her usually cheerful demeanor seemed to radiate a tone of distressed behavior as she stumbled to find her mustard, spilling Beastboy's leftover tofu tacos on herself. Beastboy was trying his best to bring the teams hopes up, but even his efforts failed all too quickly as Robin and Cyborg continued to shoot down his requests to play any games.

"Aw come on guys! Not even super monkey balls 4?" Beastboy whined as Cyborg pushed him away mumbling a, "No."

"Beastboy, can't you take the time to stop, Raven's still..." Robin's voice cut off, leaving the sentence unfinished as Beastboy's ears drooped. Although it was never admitted Beastboy's gamming and joking attitude was just escapism from reality. Robin realized this as he cut off, standing up to leave the room. Starfire close behind as the last echoing word radiated through the room in her voice, "Robin?"

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"Why are you here?"

"Look I already told you, I don't know." Raven responded in a slightly agitated tone deviating from her normal monotonous rhythm.

"You do not know why you are here?"

"Yes!" Raven kept her self controlled, but her temper was slowly whittling away.

"You do not know why you exist?"

There was a long pause. Raven did not respond immediately, taken by surprise by the question.


	2. The Swarm

Dante's Ride

Chapter 2: The Swarm

Earlier the night before…

The air was silent as the moon hovered above the midnight sky. Glossy winds willowed against the tower as small waves crashed against the rocky island shore. A dark globule like figure squirmed along the corners of the tower, faint glints of light from various objects formed the outline of the figureless object.

Raven hadn't been sleeping well, she struggled to focus her mind and rid herself of the strange images that were continuing to bring themselves into her head. Although she remained motionless in her sleep her eyes continued to pulse as she squinted, sweat forming on her face until she finally stirred into conscious reality.

Her eyes snapped open as her breathing suddenly increased. A wave of cold swept over her body as the sweat began to dissipate. She shivered. Her breath was actually visible. Her eyes scanned over the room. Everything was silent aside from her erratic breathing. She wasn't convinced though, she felt a presence in the room; she wasn't alone.

Slowly Raven rose from under her covers, the cold surrounding air seemed to thicken as puffs of smoke resonated from her breath. Her arms instinctively wrapped themselves around her body as her head rotated, scanning the room continuously.

All she could see was darkness.

Her breath slowly became controlled as her heart simmered. The room itself seemed to grow warmer as Raven calmed down, and her mind cleared. _It was just my imagination._ She though to herself as she began to relax, slowly letting her body fall back towards her pillow. The covers were merely inches from returning to her body when the crimson lights flashed across her eyes, the loud speaker howling throughout the tower. Raven bolted up from her bed. Her hood remaining clearly off of her face as she stared wide eyed at the flashing red light.

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Raven had since escaped the confinement of her chilling room. Her hood, as typical, was cascaded over her head. The flashing red lights faded from her view as she entered the main room. The lights were still dim. The sky was opaque only the faint outline of objects was observable. Robin was already there, the only other one there. "What's going on?" She called out, her voice although monotonous as usual held a tinge of a commanding tone.

Robin looked up from the computer screen, turning around to face Raven, his eyes narrowing, "not sure, something's tripped the security from inside the tower, but I can't pinpoint what or where exactly."

The door to the main room slid open from behind Raven as both Starfire and Cyborg entered the room. "Robin." Starfire's voice broke, quickly fading though as Beastboy slowly sauntered in behind the two.

"Dude! What's going on? How am I supposed to get my beauty sleep with all the flashing lights?" Beastboy yelled, his arms flapping about a bit as his friends simply stared down mildly amused by his antics.

Robin repeated what he had told Raven, before turning to the computer screen once again. A large image of what appeared to be a see through version of the Tower formed on the large window, the light easily illuminating the entire room. There were several flashing circles on the map in different locations. Robin turned around to face his friends as the screen came to. "It appears the security was tripped in these 3 areas," he began as he pointed at the flashing marks. "They all seemed to have been tripped simultaneously so there is no way of telling where exactly the target came in from, or where it may be now." He paused looking back at this team who all seemed to easily understand his words, aside from a somewhat befuzzled changeling. "Cyborg, go with Beastboy and check the roof point, Starfire will go with me to the point near the ventilation system, and Raven, You check the storage in the basement." He paused, as they all nodded, "Be careful, we don't know what got into the tower."

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Raven slowly sauntered down the dimly lit hallway. Separating from her comrades as she neared towards the stairway. As much as Beastboy would have complained Raven didn't mind being forced to take the stairs to the storage room. Robin was particularly keen about making sure they avoided the elevator in any emergency.

She reached the doorway to the steps. Her hood canted slightly off center as it hung behind her neck. Darkness flooded her vision as she quietly opened the door. She slowly descended the stairway, her hand keeping to the rail as she searched for a switch of some form, the only light in the barren dungeon came from the faint red warning lights in the ceiling, hardly worth calling even a glow. Her eyes managed to adjust though to the murky room as she reached the bottom floor.

She had been silent the entire time, her eyes scanning the room as best she could, looking for anything out of place. She began to cross the room, heading towards the far corner, where the tower had detected the breach. The already low lighting became fainter as he neared her destination. The only sound resonating in her ear came from the soft drizzle of the condensation from a heating pipe.

She arrived at her destination. Her eyes narrowing on what little she could see of the scene. A large crack seemed to have been formed into one of the airway pipes. The pipe was warm, heat slowly hissing out onto her face as she examined the scar. "Something seems to have caused it to collapse on itself." She murmured as her hand came to the wound. The pipe crack itself had been indented inward as though something had been on the outside pressing its way in.

Slowly she rose stepping back away from the line of heat coming from the pipe, reaching for her communicator. She grasped it in her hand, about to open it when a large ear shattering crash snapped behind her as it broke the silence. Her communicator slipped from her fingers as she spun about peering into the echoing silence. She noticed the silhouette of a strange molding liquid like form.

Her eyes squinted through the darkness trying to make out the objects form. It was changing too rapidly though to give it any thought as Raven bent low to grab her communicator once again. Something though stopped her from contacting Robin. The form although shapeless seemed to be radiating a strange sensation in Raven's mind. Whatever it was it was trying to communicate, Raven sensed that.

Raven's eyes fluttered heavily as she did a double take on what she saw before her now. It was as though she was looking into a broken mirror, well a mirror that somehow distorted the colors of reality. Before Raven now stood a clone, easily as pale and gloomy as herself. However the cloak and hair was black, as were here shoes. The clone's grayed eyes leered back at Raven as though trying to look through her, open her mind and seek what little truth there was to be had.

The clone seemed to stumble upon something as it back peddled a few steps away from Raven, its blackened arms rose up defensively as it blinked in alarm, however not a word rose from its lips. Raven's vibrant lavender eyes narrowed slightly on the creature, her lips split as she raised her voice, "What are you?" Her crisp set tone cut through the uneasy silence like a brick on glass.

The creature's head canted to the side, twisting almost to the point that a normal human's head would have snapped, or at least made a crackling pop from the stress. As its head returned to its normal position an equally monotonous and domineering voice called back to Raven, "Angela Roth…Where have you been hiding?"

Raven's eyes widened for a split second before she was able to take control of them and redirect them at the creature. "I don't know what you are but you don't belong here…" Raven began as she pulled her hands back, her eyes slowly beginning to radiate with a familiar whitening glow. A black film like cover formed around Raven's right hand as she directed her fingers like claws in the direction of the creature, the oh so familiar words she used began to echo in her head as she chanted them with a stern heavy tone, "_Azarath Metrion Zinthos_!"

Five individual black finger sized molds projected out from Raven's hand as they whipped through the air at the creature. A blank stare remained plastered on the creature's face as it was struck by every hit. At each of the point of contact the creature's body appeared rippled and torn as an oversized hole expanded outward, distorting the image of the false Raven. Within an instant the humanoid figure broke and collapsed into a figureless mass of thick black glue. Raven's eyes pierced through the darkness as she examined the motionless mass for a moment. Her heart was pounding in her chest as uncertainty flooded her thoughts; _I need to warn the others._

Raven once again lowered her body to the floor as she retrieved her fallen communicator. However as she rose to full height her eyes latched onto the figure of the shapeless molding substance. The figure was forming into Raven once again. However unlike before it wasn't taking on the shape of her clothing. It was replicating Raven nude. The seemingly exposed creature's body lay on the floor as though wounded, its back facing the air. Its torso twisted to the side exposing its bare chest, as its head lifted to meet Raven in the eyes. A softened, defeated look seemed to radiate from the creature's false eyes.

Raven stood stunned by the sight. The creature remained perfectly still as its pale eyes locked with Raven's. A faint red glow began to form around the intruder's eyes, as Raven's own widened in shock. Her hand quivered for a moment as it brought the communicator to her face, flipping the yellow cover up. Raven's panicked voice called into the device as a mischievous grin formed on the creature's face.

"Robin!" was all she managed to call out before the communicator once again cascaded to the hard concrete floor. Raven's body likewise following with the device as a low thud reverberated outward from the impact. Raven's eyes were closed, as her body lay skew. Her cloak and leotard appeared torn and tattered, exposing various gashes and cuts. A small trickle of blood dripped down her nose and ears. The creature she'd been staring at was gone, and the only sound that echoed throughout the basement of Titan's Tower was a small repetitious beat of condensation off the broken heating pipe.


	3. The Awakening

Dante's Ride

_After reading a few reviews I realized I forgot to edit a small section at the end of this chapter, (From the original version I had used,) It's seemingly subtle, but notable for the direction of the plot._

Chapter 3: The Awakening

It hadn't been more than 36 hours since the incident. And yet, to the Titan's it felt like an eternity. Time seemed to be snagging as the four friends continuously glared between their friend, Raven, and the clock face. The City itself felt barren and dull in their eyes, nothing seemed to want to diverge their attention away from the pain. Not even a small flicker of radiance from their punching bag, Doctor Light.

Robin had been continuously moving between Raven and the computers, updating her IV from time to time, checking her vital stats, and giving himself a headache. The others attempted to watch Robin silently; Beastboy was having the worst time dealing with the pain of waiting. His moistened green hands rested flat against his face as he rubbed it furiously, his fingers eventually working their way up through his hair as he began to pull on it, hoping the physical pain might pull his mind away from the emotional pain, but to no avail.

"This is driving me insane!" Beastboy finally blurted out, his loud booming voice caught the others off guard; Cyborg and Starfire stared blankly as Robin twisted his head narrowing his eyes slightly. Beastboy continued, "Raven…for the love of God Please! Wake up already!" A tone of urgency and despair was easily noted as his voice cracked.

Robin's feet quickly paraded up to the green changeling as he gave a concerning glare down at the frustrated changeling. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave if you're going to raise your voice like that."

Beastboy wasn't one to keep quiet once he had finally cracked. However he knew better than to press his luck against Robin, especially after the last time he'd seen Raven in such a condition. Last time however he'd been the supposed cause of her diminishing health. Beastboy rose slowly, he could feel his gut thrashing around with what little he'd eaten for breakfast that morning. Quietly the green boy had managed to evict himself from the room for the moment. He needed to release his tension without making things worse for the others. Beastboy felt his fist clench slightly, rattling against his thigh as he buried his emotions long enough to get out of hearing range of the infirmary.

Beastboy made his way into his room, not bothering to flick on any of the lights he simply pushed his body at his bed, letting the green skinned flesh fall with gravity until the cushions of the bottom bunk caught him. He felt so empty. Raven may have been the one who always sapped his fun away from time to time, but with out her, well, there really wasn't any fun in ANYthing.

As Beastboy rolled over on his bed, his eyes caught a faint flickering sight of something moving in the corner of his darkened, unlit room. Beastboy froze in his bed as he pulled his head up slightly, attempting to get a better view of the corner. Dead Silence.

"I'm loosing my mind." He thought aloud hoping to break the silence of his room. If there was one thing Beastboy seemed to hate a lot, it was silence. Beastboy almost always had to surround himself with noise, a reassurance of some kind perhaps, telling him he wasn't alone in the world. None-the-less Beastboy's voice gave himself a small bit of assurance that he'd been imaging what he'd seen, his head lazily slumped back into the comfort of the fabric. Silence once again began to fill the room.

CRACK! A seemingly loud noise suddenly reverberated in Beastboy's ears as he bolted upright, nearly banging his head into the top bunk as he stared into his room once again. His eyes quickly turned to the source of the noise. There was a small wooden extension from his wall, which had been housing some of his small toys. It appeared as though the wood had finally given way to the weight and crashed to the floor.

Beastboy's heart pounded as he rose from his bed slowly, moving to the crash site to examine the damage. It was then that he saw it out of the corner of his right eye. A similar shadowy image he'd seen just moments before was moving about near his door. Beastboy's body rose fully erect while his head turned to bring the image into full view.

What he saw before him couldn't have been anymore surrealistic than anything he'd ever imagined before. The same dark copied image Raven had encountered in the basement was now standing before Beastboy, motionless, and seemingly void of emotions. It was almost a perfect image of the dark monotonous girl, well aside from her colorless features, however with a lack of light, Beastboy was easily fooled. His eyes widened as he gapped for a moment, a stuttering silence seemed to suck the air from his words as he tried to say something. Finally he managed to choke out a simple name. "Raven…"

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"Raven…is it…is it really you?" Beastboy stammered as he continued to gawp at the seemingly perfect image of her.

"Yes…" Her voice responded almost perfectly, the tone, the timber her voice was an exact replica of Raven's emotionless face. "It's me."

Beastboy could feel his heart begin to flutter, as his eyes seemed to widen to a point beyond human limit. "I don't beli…How did…When…But…I'm…." Beastboy's ecstatic and uncontrolled train of thought suddenly mellowed out as he pulled himself back into reality. Something wasn't right. Beastboy may appear 'dumb' to most others, and agreeably he wasn't the most intelligent person on the planet, but he did have some intellect. Beastboy knew the smell of almost every individual he'd met, he knew how to tell them apart, and as much as his room was filled with his own personal stench, he should have been able to catch wind of Raven's by now, however he smelt something completely different.

Fear. The green changeling could smell fear begin to filter into his room. His deep emerald eyes quickly narrowed on the doppelganger as his joyful mood quickly turned sour. "You're lying." He hissed as he arched his back slightly bearing his small fangs in an animalistic nature. His feet back peddled slightly as he attempted to build some distance away from the creature.

A small curving grin inched its way on the fake Raven's face as she made a few approaching steps towards Beastboy. "How 'keen', Logan." Its black piercing eyes narrowed against his own as it searched for something inside. The image of Raven quickly began to dissolve into a black glue-like abyss, as another image seemed to overtake the creature. An older woman stood in her place. Her brunette hair waved down to the shoulders as her warm welcoming eyes tore through Beastboy's defensive posture.

Beastboy's eyes widened as he stumbled backwards, falling onto a large bulky pile of toys. His back roared in pain as he felt several of the toy's plastic edges burrow into his back. His eyes snapped back open ignoring the pain as he focused on the woman. "Mom…" was the only thing that escaped his lips as he snarled slightly; still knowing it was nothing more than a false image.

The woman grinned maliciously as its eyes began to glow with a vibrant red hue. "You couldn't save her…" The woman began to taunt the poor changeling; "You left her to die in the boat with your father while you fled to safety."

"No! Its not Tr"

"But it is…it is true poor little Gar. You couldn't saved your mother, just like you couldn't save Terra." The image of Beastboy's mother quickly molded into a shorter image of a young blond blue-eyed girl, Terra.

"You couldn't save me, you left me to die with Slade."

Beastboy attempted to hold his emotions back, his sneering face quivered as a few tears began to form against the rim of his eyes. "No…" He continued to call out trying to keep his sanity. "It's not true…"

"You lie to yourself Beastboy…you lie to yourself and others to keep them happy, to keep them from knowing your own pain." The creature continued to taunt as its figure once again altered into that of Raven once again. "You fear others pitying you. You want to simply make everyone else happy so they forget about your problems."

Beastboy continued to fight mentally as he struggled to push himself off of the tumbling pile of toys. For once he'd wished he'd listened to Cyborg and actually cleaned his room. His body at this point was trembling in a mixture of fear and anxiety. His eyes managed to pull up once again to meet the false Raven's eyes.

The creature lowered its torso as its head loomed over Beastboy's. "You couldn't even save R"

Beastboy's body lunged out from the pile of toys as his body shifted in mid strike, a long powerful feline paw raked against the creature's chest as it was launched back into the door of his room. A small indent formed upon impact as the creature's body struggled to keep its shape. Beastboy stood hunched over in his human form once again, his teeth still exposed as his eyes glared at the creature.

For a moment the creature remained limp, its face seemingly voice of consciousness as its held a large set of claw marks on its chest, the leotard was ripped clean off exposing the false body. The wounds quickly sealed up as the face lit with animation once again. Its body lifting up slowly as it continued to stare at the anger filled changeling. "You can't escape reality forever…" The creature's voice hissed out softly as its eyes once again began to glow with that spine-chilling red tinge.

Beastboy's room lay in ruins as the battle ensued. Well it had already been in ruins, however it was far more severe now. Fragments of plastic, cloth, and glass lay scattered about the room. Small dents and blood spots sponged the walls. Beastboy's computer began to erupt in a small fury of sparks, as the monitor lay cracked against the ground within the crater of broken desk wood. Ironically the only thing untouched was his bed and sheets.

Beastboy himself was cradled into the corner of the room on the far side of his door as he arched his back against the wall. A few blood riddled back wounds smeared against the cold steal-based green wall. Several huffs of breath resonated from his breath. His eyes shut for a moment as he squeezed them tightly, his mind tracing the image of his parents, which quickly dissolved into the sole image of Terra. His eyes snapped open as he let out one last breath of air, glaring darkly into the eyes of his foe, preparing to launch for another attack.

A small ball of white smoke billowed around Beastboy's face as his breath slowly dissipated into the air. His eyes adjusted for a brief moment as he glanced at the rising vapor cloud. His mind froze for but a brief moment as he felt a searing chill run down his back, lighting his wounds on fire. Each wound on his back suddenly began to feel like someone had driven an old rusted blade deep into the base of his spine and was now beginning to twist the blade brutally.

A roar of pain throbbed from his lips as his arms flailed behind his back, reaching out to cater the wounds. The creature at this point appeared perfectly motionless as it continued to leer at the writhing ball of green skin. Beastboy's onslaught of attacks had been completely ineffective against the creature. Still in the figure of Raven, the colorless being approached Beastboy.

Lashing its arms out, the being attached them to Beastboy slamming the shape shifter square into the corner bedpost. Beastboy attempted to morph into a snake, hoping to slip out of the creature's grip however as his arms began to lengthen and condense he felt a second surge of pain rip through his body. He was paralyzed. His body didn't respond to his mind. Beastboy's eyes continued to stare into the heart of the beast, as his mind frantically raced for a solution to his dilemma.

The creature's eyes began to glow deep crimson once more as it held its grip against the struggling boy. A low rumbling cackle began to resonate from its body as the figure of Raven began to melt into a shapeless squirming mass of nothing. Beastboy gave out one last attempt to break free as he watched the creature dissolve, failing miserably. Beastboy felt a cold wave like liquid metal ripple and spread out from his hands to his wrists. The shapeless creatures "arms" began to melt onto Beastboy as it folded its pale clammy figure against the boy.

Beastboy could feel his breath shortening as his heart began to quicken in pace, leaping up to his throat. He was choking. His body felt numb as tiny needles began to prick at it. The shapeless mass had engulfed the bulk of his body and was working around his neck, tightening its grip as it forced the changeling to lose blood flow to his head. Within a few moments the green shape-shifting teenager was unconscious. His body had given in to the abyss-like void that now lay wrapped around him.

The body quickly fell to the floor letting out a light groan as air began to circulate back into the changeling's lungs. The shapeless blob began to seemingly evaporate into the thin crevices within the fabric of Beastboy's blackened maroon suit, disappearing into the void.

A long drawn silence seemed to take hold of the darkened room as several minutes stretched out to what seemed like an hour. A soft knock rapped against the door.

Silence followed.

A second set of knocks tapped on the door, a slight tinge of urgency began to radiate from the beating.

"Beastboy?"

It was Robin's voice, which echoed through the war torn room as the green changeling picked his head up slowly, bringing his hand against his temple as he looked up at the door.

"Yeah?" Beastboy's voice finally called out, quivering slightly from pain.

"Are you okay in there? I heard a loud crash. It sounded like you broke something."

The green changeling stared at the door, examining the glowing white light that radiated from the crevice between the floor and the door as the outside hall light reflected into his room. His eyes peeled away from the light as he examined the room, noting the blood and shredded clothing. "Nothing…" He lied, "I just fell out of my bed."


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